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I would agree that people, in my opinion, are inflating the whole weather issue. If it was that humid and foul then how do 2+ million people survive?
I'm sure that there are people who don't have or can't afford air conditioning and regardless you can't have air conditioning round the clock. Sooner or later you will have to go to the store, park your car and WALK to shop.
Speaking of Chicago: I suggest all Texans experience this wonderful city at least once. Take your family on a vacation for 2 weeks and see what Chi-Town is all about. People for the most part are very friendly and the city has that "city/feel." Downtown is good for sightseeing but if you want culture get in to the smaller neighborhoods. Sports, food, a nice movie and a stroll down lake Michigan....While you're at it check out the Cubs at Wrigley Field
What can I say, I LOVE to travel.
Speaking of Chicago: I suggest all Texans experience this wonderful city at least once. Take your family on a vacation for 2 weeks and see what Chi-Town is all about. People for the most part are very friendly and the city has that "city/feel." Downtown is good for sightseeing but if you want culture get in to the smaller neighborhoods. Sports, food, a nice movie and a stroll down lake Michigan....While you're at it check out the Cubs at Wrigley Field
What can I say, I LOVE to travel.
Same for Chicagoans and Suburbanites to Houston. Look at your own reflection!
All of this is fine as long as no one ever makes the mistake of saying that Dallas is bigger than Houston because they will be incorrect. No matter how you spin it. They may be "equal" in importance, but Houston is bigger than Dallas through and through. Nobody that lives on the Fort Worth side of the Metroplex is going to say that they live in Dallas.
As long as people know that the DFW MSA is bigger than the Houston MSA...I'm fine with Houston proper being bigger than Dallas proper...but it's just boundaries..DFW MSA is bigger than Houston MSA and ranks 4th in the nation behind NYC, LA, and Chicago MSA's
But like I say, I think this topic really can be debated forever and ever...b/c both of us are using different systems...I'm using MSA you're using city proper. In the end, we're both right....which is nice...but the grand thing of all is that the Texas cities compare well against the rest of the country...decent cost of living, lots of amenities, etc.
Same for Chicagoans and Suburbanites to Houston. Look at your own reflection!
I agree Chicago is more city like. I'm from that region of the country originally...and Chicago is probably one of two cities in the US that has a true city like feel to it...the other is NYC.
But, I do feel the sunbelt cities are overall nicer after having lived in both areas. FOr those who hate winter (and remember this is just personal preferences), the sunbelt is attractive. Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta, and LA are great cities. Yes they may not have the high density of skyscrapers as Chicago or NYC, but they offer arguably several of the same amenities, just not in a high dense skyscraper type of setting.
LA is great...it has the Melrose district, Santa Monica, Hollywood Blvd, Chinatown, Filipino town, Korean Town, Thai town, etc etc. It has beach. It has mountains. It has density, just not in a skyscraper type setting.
Houston is great too...it has skyscrapers, just not as dense as Chicago or NYC, it has great restaurants, great theater, close to the coast, lost cost of living, big city amenities.
DFW: excellent also. Relatively low cost of living, great restaurants, all major league sports, several world class museums, high end shopping (though hate to shop), the 2nd largest airport in the US and 3rd largest in the world, and also home to the world's largest carrier, American. Also lots of skyscrapers, but not in high density as Chicago or NYC.
Phoenix: Great for winter golf. Lots of world class retail and restuarants.
Atlanta: Former Olympic host city. Growing just as rapidly as Houston and Dallas. Cosmopolitan. Very nice.
Yes Chicago is great. No disputing that. However, it's not necessarily the best place to live for people who dont place high priorities on high density of skyscrapers. Dont get me wrong, love chicago, have my favorite places to eat, great place to visit (in the summertime), love the pizza, love Lincoln Park and Mich Ave, great neighborhoods, world class city. And to those who are anti chicago, i would be the first to defend it being familiar with the town.
However, I do feel that Houston and Dallas have a lot to offer, are both great world class cities in their own rights, great weather overall, low cost of lving compared to Chicago, LA, NYC (Dallas and Houston will be 4 and 5 respectively) by the end of the decade (referring to MSA stats).
So do come to Texas for a few weeks and explore all of our cities: Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio. You'll be surpirsed at all that they have to offer.
Location: from houstoner to bostoner to new yorker to new jerseyite ;)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Supernova7
I would agree that people, in my opinion, are inflating the whole weather issue. If it was that humid and foul then how do 2+ million people survive?
Indeed. It's really only unbearably hot and humid during the summer months, from early June to late September, depending on how hurricane season plays itself out. We get occasional relief in the form of winds and rain. July and August are the absolute worst. I would never again trade the heat and humidity for snow though. I can't handle snow one iota.
OTOH, I'm loving all the HOUSTON HATE. It gives me the giggles.
So do come to Texas for a few weeks and explore all of our cities: Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio. You'll be surpirsed at all that they have to offer.
Texas cities do have a lot to offer...BUT (and this is coming from a born and raised Texan) they are simply too sprawling and auto-dependent for someone looking for an urban lifestyle.
Being a big city is not all about sky scrapers (although they are nice). Houston has bigger and more abundant sky scrapers than almost any city in Europe, but almost any city in Europe I would consider more urban and city-like than Houston. To me, a city is really about walkable neighborhoods and a community attitude. Texas cities just don't have that like cities in the Northeast, Chicago, or San Francisco.
It's sad because Texas cities could be and could have been so much more. Fifty plus years ago there was an extensive trolley system in Houston. People lived within a decent distance from downtown and it had a very urban feel to it. People had stores they could walk to and people took street cars around the city. Something that would resemble anything you would find in NYC, Chicago, or San Francisco. But while those cities kept their transit systems and expanded them, Texas cities ripped their's up. They sprawled, became dependent on the automobile, and the urban feeling of the city never was the same.
There are some really neat old buildings on the Northend of downtown Houston, for example. Historic, mid-rise brick buildings, some with really great architecture. But so many of them are abandoned! The downtown almost completely shuts down after 5pm. My friend lives in Midtown and I went down there to grab some food one day after 5 and there was nothing open! On the weekend downtown is deserted.
Again, it's sad because there is so much potential but Texas cities picked a different path and are now attempting a MUCH belated (and possibly futile) attempt to revive areas of their cities that have been neglected for a generation. I hope them the best, but knowing Texas's history and generally the attitude of people down there (especially in regards to public transit) I am not holding my breath.
I agree with you, irwin, except on the last part. I mean, I really would love to see the momentum for urbanity continue for the Texas cities and I will remain optimistic. They are becoming more dense by the year but they have a while to go. But looks like me and you share the same picture as far as an urban city. There is no city or major sunbelt city for that matter that can match what Chicago, NY, Philadelphia, or Boston has as far as urban lifestyle. I think Houston out of all the cities in the sunbelt has the best potential to do so and it's partly because of the lack of zoning. You can see how dense the TMC is. Inside the loop, they are constantly building dense neighborhoods and re-energizing struggling neighborhoods as well.
But I can see why you become pessimistic for urban cities in Texas. The reason is because Texas loves their cars. North Texas seems to want rail alot though as they keep expanding it. After they expand the 90 miles they are building now, they will expand some more. Houston wants it too. But if Culberson stays in office, rail will never take off in Houston. Also, if it is toooo hot or it's raining, Texans do not come out. It makes me laugh when people say it's too hot to do anything in Texas yet in Chicago when it's 2 degrees in the afternoon, the streets are still packed with people walking like it was still 65 out there. They use weather as an excuse and it makes me laugh. And don't ask for Texans to walk. I mean, if the grocery store is only two blocks, they will take the car.
I know Houstonians will probably think I am hating on their city. But I'm not. I just wish Galveston was the city of Texas. Now looking at pictures of Galveston, you cry for the city because the hurricane destroyed what could have been the urban metropolis of Texas and the south. It was quickly headed towards the Chicago of the south. It was known as the Wall Street of Texas. The hurricane and the oil boom killed the city's momentum. It is a jewel with alot of urban hoods.
All of this is fine as long as no one ever makes the mistake of saying that Dallas is bigger than Houston because they will be incorrect. No matter how you spin it. They may be "equal" in importance, but Houston is bigger than Dallas through and through. Nobody that lives on the Fort Worth side of the Metroplex is going to say that they live in Dallas.
Of course nobody in Ft. Worth proper as well as the cities bordering Ft. Worth will say that. But I guarantee you that people in Grapevine south toward Mansfield will say they live in Dallas. Both those cities are in Tarrant County. People from Flower Mound, Lewisville, and the Colony will say they are in Dallas if they tell somebody where they are from.
You'll get no argument from me on liking to see Texas cities become urban. Not only would it make me seriously consider moving back but it would also be good for the environment (another thing Texas cities seem to ignore). But again, I am not holding my breath.
Houston does have a lot of potential to be the Chicago of the South. It's hemmed in by the ship channel on one side, is the home to a major port, world center for a major industry, lots of educated people with money. But, alas, I don't think the mentality is the same. Again, public transport is simply something for poor people in the eyes of most Texans. Sorry to say that but it's generally true. Public transit is also seen as somehow "un-Texan" to a lot of people. Funny how they forget all those street cars running around city street before they were tragically ripped up. And people would rather buy a huge tract house 40+ miles from their office and do a brutal commute than buy a smaller place closer to work. People in Texas get married and start having kids a lot earlier than people in the more urban parts of the country. Therefore, living way out and sending their kids to public schools is the only option.
Also, and this is something I never really noticed until I first moved away, but people in Texas really don't care as much about the aesthetic aspects of their city as much of people from other places. It seems really counter-intuitive because it keeps down property values but probably part of the reason is that there is no income tax and property taxes are so high. Although Washington State also doesn't have an income tax and you don't get the same attitude.
Texas cities do have some things going for them and they have a lot of potential. But, sadly...I see much of that potential wasted. They are simply too sprawling to ever really be considered "real" cities. I hope that changes, but given that it took decades for Houston (the 4th biggest city in the country) to build one measly light rail line...again, I am not holding my breath.
As long as people know that the DFW MSA is bigger than the Houston MSA...I'm fine with Houston proper being bigger than Dallas proper...but it's just boundaries..DFW MSA is bigger than Houston MSA and ranks 4th in the nation behind NYC, LA, and Chicago MSA's
But like I say, I think this topic really can be debated forever and ever...b/c both of us are using different systems...I'm using MSA you're using city proper. In the end, we're both right....which is nice...but the grand thing of all is that the Texas cities compare well against the rest of the country...decent cost of living, lots of amenities, etc.
DFW is bigger than Houston. That can't be argued. I'm saying that Dallas is not bigger than Houston.
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